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Topic: Health insurance premiums (Read 2430 times)

No, it's the large insurance providers who are quoting much smaller AND larger increases. I wonder how much extra profit health insurance companies will try to hide in their increases, blaming it on gov't instead.

as you know, i am not a fan of the existence of insurance companies...or rather, the reliance by the population on them. the people did demand that someone else cover their costs, so insurance companies fill that demand. and yes, they are in business to make money, but their profit margin is comparatively small. it should also be remembered that many of these companies are non-profit. that means they can charge cost + what can reasonably be expected (determined by law) to be the future costs. they can't bank a "profit".

enter the government: it now dictates what must be covered and who must be covered. worse, they can no longer turn away people with pre-existing conditions. as a feel good measure, it's great. as a business consideration, it's a disaster. insurance cost depends on the pool buying into the insurance. if it's cheaper for people not to buy insurance and pay the fine, then get insurance when they get sick, you have fewer healthy people paying into the system and more sick people taking out.

so, more covered, more "free" stuff, no control over pool of payers, and you are surprised that cost might go up? add to that, small businesses are dumping their insurance programs and people will end up on the federal exchanges...which are tax dollar supported, so guess what goes up next?

i know you are struggling to defend this, but it's pretty much indefensible...except in one way: we know that single payer has been the leftist plan forever. we know they are not stupid. knowing those two things, the only logical conclusion is that this was designed to fail so that single payer is the rescue option. this will be such a mess that they are banking on people accepting single payer as a rescue.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

Kathyp is correct. My hope is, people will not just stand around and watch. I plead with my conservative friends to get involved ! What this Jerk in the Whitehouse has done is pure evil !!! Help those who are taking a stand ! Research organizations claiming to be in the fight. When you decide which one you see as an effective group, support them !!!

I'm not struggling to defend anything. I want to wait and see. The only thing I KNOW is that insurance costs have been skyrocketing every single year for a very long time. There is nothing new about this. But it might be a good time for insurance companies to blame it on the government and jack premiums up yet again.

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The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. ---Emily Dickinson

I'm not struggling to defend anything. I want to wait and see. The only thing I KNOW is that insurance costs have been skyrocketing every single year for a very long time. There is nothing new about this. But it might be a good time for insurance companies to blame it on the government and jack premiums up yet again.

But it might be a good time for insurance companies to blame it on the government and jack premiums up yet again

sure, because we have a whole list of things that the government has messed in, and has made more efficient and cost effective!

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

Perhaps government regulation has been driving insurance costs for a long time. I am almost willing to wager that the medical foelds employ as many for red tape and paerwork as they do people that catually treat patients. This all adds costs that produce nothing.I find it amazing they will not touch tort refrom which is another huge drain on insurance companies.